= Voted with TCTA position = Voted against TCTA position = Absent = Present Not Voting (typically the Speaker or Speaker designee)

KEY HOUSE VOTES IN 2019

Some of the more important bills of the 2019 session passed unanimously (or in some cases with only one “no” vote, from a legislator who is not running for re-election). These bills included the state budget with additional funding for public education (HB 1), the school finance reform bill with increases in teacher compensation (HB 3) and a bill providing additional funding to shore up the TRS pension fund (SB 12). TCTA appreciates the support public schools and teachers received from the legislature on those issues.

The following were some of the other bills and amendments of interest to educators during the session.

Vote No. 1 — Final House passage of SB 2432, which adds harassment by a student against a school employee to the list of behaviors that require removal to a DAEP (subject to administrator review of any mitigating circumstances). A vote for the conference committee report was a vote for the TCTA position. (SB 2432 passed.)

Vote No. 2 — Final House passage of HB 1133, which would have changed the class-size caps in K-4 from 22 students per class to a campus-wide average in each applicable grade level of 22 students per class. A vote for the bill was a vote against the TCTA position. (The bill failed to pass the House.)

Vote No. 3 — Final House passage of HB 1276, which would have prevented students from being assigned two consecutive years to inexperienced or not appropriately certified teachers. A vote for the bill was a vote for the TCTA position. (The bill passed the House, but failed in the Senate.)

Vote No. 4 — Final House passage of HB 102, which strengthens mentor programs for new classroom teachers and ensures funding. A vote for the bill was a vote for the TCTA position. (The bill passed as language in HB 3; HB 102 passed the House, but failed in the Senate.)